minerva mechanica 1911

8/11/2019 Minerva Mechanica 1911

1/8

Minerva MechanicaAuthor(s): Henry D. WildReviewed work(s):Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Dec., 1911), pp. 99-105Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and SouthStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3286988.

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2/8

MINERVA MECHANICA'

BY HENRY D. WILD

Williams

College

Of

all

modern

inventions,

the

typewriter

is

perhaps

the

nearest

approach

to an artificial

mind. Its delicate

compactness

all

but

holds

the

potentialities

of

thought.

It is

fairly

bursting

with

alpha-

betical

possibilities,

and at times one almost

expects

to see

it

in

the act of exploding nto literature. But luckily, that phenomenon

never

happens,

for

it still needs a mind behind

it.

More

than

this,

if

manual skill

is

lacking,

even

the most

powerful

brain

makes

a

bad mess

in the

use of

it.

Somewhere

n

the

process

the

living

idea

goes

to

pieces.

The

largerpart

of the mental

energy

is

wasted

in

the

mere effort

to

manage

the

abominable

thing.

In

such

an

event the beautiful action

of the

machine,

with the

precise

thrust

of

its

letter-bars,

s chill comfort

to the

exasperated

performer.

Rather

he has recourse

to the inward conviction

that no Plato

or

Vergil

or

Shakespeareever poured typewritten masterpieceson the world.

We

are at

present

in

the

typewriter

stage

of education. We

are

all

for

speed,

convenience,

technical

perfection,

immediate

results.

If

only

there

were co-ordinationbetween the

soul

of the

thing

and

the

process

Aye,

there's the rub.

The

trouble is that

we are

so

absorbed

n

making

it

all

work that we

forget

what we

set

out to

do.

There is

such

nervous haste

to erase

mistakes,

to

repair

breaks,

to make fair

copy,

that there

is

little

time or

force

calmly

to

elaboratethat which

we are

frantically

striving

to

express.

Method

has enwrappedour souls as in a mist. The temperof the twentieth

century

has

penetrated

all our

institutions of

learning,

and

in

the

midst

of our violent

academic

leisure

we all

must

have

had

oppor-

tunity

to

study

it.

The

inevitable

conclusion is that

the

root

of

the

difficulty

ies in

the

fact

that,

owing

to our

restless

nventiveness,

the balance

between

pure learning

on

the one hand and the

expres-

sion

of

learning

on the

other

has been

disturbed,

whether

n

instruc-

'

Read before

the

Classical Association of

New

England

at

the

Sixth Annual

Meeting, Exeter,

N.H.,

April

I,

191i.

99


3/8

I00

THE

CLASSICAL

JOURNAL

tion

or

in

creative

work. Time

was

when

pure

scholarship

was

wholly

out

of

proportion

to its

inadequate

mechanical means of

expression,

with

the

result

that the

personality

of the

scholar was

its

own

best

expression.

Now

the relation

is

reversed,

so that the

riches

of

scholarship

and

the

energies

of the

scholar are

drained

off

through

a

thousand channels. As

Masterman

says

in

his

Condi-

tion

of England,

"Modern

civilization

in

its

most

highly

organized

forms has elaborated

a

system

to

which

the

delicate fiber of mind

and

body

is unable to

respond."

The

state

of

things

was

already

sufficiently

parlous

even before

a

mechanical

engineer

on a steel

foundation investigated our universitiesand colleges and told us

how

to

run them for

efficiency.

If

this

is

progress,

t

is

that which

Carlyle

describes.

"If we examine it

well,"

says

he,

"it

is the

marching

of

that

gouty patient,

whom his

doctors had

clapt

on a

metal

floor,

artificially

heated

to

the

searing-point,

so

that

he

was

obliged

to

march,

and did march with a

vengeance-no-whither."

Now

it is not

enough

to

say

that the

classics

have

been,

as

by

their

nature

they

should

be,

the last to feel

this

influence.

They,

at

least,

ought

not to be

subject

to the disease at all.

They

shouldbe the one instance of a wholesomeoppositionto it though

all else

fail.

If

there

is

anywhere

an influence

that has its

springs

in

calmness

and

meditation it is

to be

found

in the

classics,

and it

follows

as the

night

the

day

that the

devotee of the classics must

himself

be meditative

and calm.

To

be too modern n the

presence

of the

ancient,

to

use tools

on a mental

atmosphere,

is

not

only

futile,

but

also

a

confession

that one is

not of

the elect.

"Save

the

classics

at

any

cost,"

is the

cry,

and

so we

go

into action

with

the

rest,

elaborate

our

methods,

plan

our

campaigns,

perfect

our

operations-and

hope for the morning. Do we ever stop to

think

of the

misdirection

of

zeal that strains

for the

salvage

of

a

force

that itself

has

been

a salvation

of the

centuries?

In view

of

this

universal

tendency,

of this

often

admirable

activity,

one

exposes

himself

to

the

charge

of

heresy

if he bids

his

colleagues

face

square

about

and

do

nothing

for a time

save

look

up

and

gain

inspiration

from

the scene

above them.

Yet

I make

bold

to

do

precisely

this,

even

to

maintain

that the real

Olympus

and

Parnassus

still

rise

cool

and

calm,

that

the

gods

and

the

Muses of old are there undisturbed,and that the better course,


4/8

MINERVA

MECHANICA

IOI

even

for

our

practical

ends,

is to

go up

and

commune with

them.

To

the

possible

criticism

that

this is

visionary,

it

may

be

replied

that

it is

precisely

vision

that

we

need.

But

I

readily yield

to

the

call

to

come down to the level of

facts,

on the

condition,

however,

that

we

appropriate

such facts as shall enable us to

go up again.

With

a

view, then,

to

practical

matters,

it should be

remarked

in

the first

place

that

we are

violating

a

fundamentalrule in

that,

to

use an outdoor

expression,

we do

not

"travel

light."

Too

much

of

our

strength

is

expended

on

superfluous

luggage.

A

certain

amount

of

impedimenta

s

necessary,

of

course,

but with the

years

has come a vast accumulationof it, until what was intended as an

aid

has

become

in

reality

a

hindrance.

I do

not

refer

to illustrative

material that

makes

the

past

live

again

for

ourselves

and our

students.

That

is our

telescope.

The wider the

sweep

of

distant

scenery

at

our

command

the

better.

Nor

do I

mean those

aids

in the

way

of reference

and of

information

that

localize

our

work.

They

are

our

guidebooks.

The results of the

labors of

field

experts

must be had and

used at

any

cost.

The

more of

the true sort the

better.

But

why

is it that we find

so

many

of

our students

"ser-

aphically free from taint of personality"? Thomas Arnoldused

to

say:

"I

call that the best

theme which

shows

that

the

boy

has

read

and

thought

for

himself;

that the

next

best

which shows

that

he

has read several books

and

digested

what he

has

read;

and

that

the

worst

which

shows

that

he

has followed one

book and

followed

that

without reflection."

What would

Arnold do

today

with

some

of

our school

editions

where

Vergil

and

Cicero lie

neatly

concealed

beneath

a

mass of

annotative

gelatin

?

In

four

school

editions of

Latin

authors,

taken

at

random,

the total

number of

pages

of

text

is

709,

while the number of pages of notes is 795. In four college

editions

of

Latin

authors,

taken

at

random

with the

exception

of

one

where the

editor's notorious zeal

afforded a

temptation

to

fatten

statistics too

great

to be

resisted,

there is a

total

of

374

pages

of

Latin text

to

860

pages

of

notes,

exclusive

of

introductions.

It

is this

sacrificing

of

the

great

original

on

the altar of

great

originality

that is

a

bane of

our

modern

training

in the

classics.

It is an

open

question

if our

fathers,

with all

their

poverty

of

extra-

neous

"helps,"

did

not

get

closer to that

essence

that

had

"some

relish of salvation in 't." From the nature of things, how can a


5/8

Io02

THE

CLASSICALJOURNAL

student

with a

given

amount

of time

at his

disposal

get

into the

heart

of

an

author's

thought

and

style,

when it is

expected

of him

that

in

the

attempt

to do

so

he must

spend

a

large

fraction

of

that

time

in

familiarizing

himself with Professor

Blank's ideas

on

the

subjunctive

? In that

time

he

might

have memorized

ten verses

of

the

Aeneid,

and

if

only

ten,

even so to his

everlasting good.

It

is no wonder

that the

average

student

comes

to eschew

these

condiments

altogether,

and bolts

his

daily

food almost

whole,

with

certain

easily

obtainable dilutions to wash

it

down;

in

which

case

it

is

better

for him to

hold

in his hand

twelve

books of

solid Aeneid

than six books plus an equal bulk of what to him is nothing but

waste

paper.

For

my

part,

I

confess

to a

strong

tendency

toward

reaction

in this matter.

Better

results

are

obtained,

I feel

con-

vinced,

by

an immediate

approach

to the

original

text.

This

is

not

a

plea

for

the wholesale abandonment

of

annotated

editions

for

the classroom.

They

are useful

just

in

so

far

as

they

lead

directly

to

the end

in

view,

the

mastery

of the authors.

Many

editions

might

be named

whose

notes

are in

themselves

a

literary

delight

and

make needed trails

leading

straight

to

the fountain

insteadof bristlingbrushwoodaround t. But, in the last analysis,

it

is

the

teacher's

businessto

teach,

to be

his

own

bureau

of

informa-

tion

to

his

classes,

and

not

to

conduct

a

daily

examination

on

a mass

of notes.

It

is with

something

like this

in

mind

that,

as a

part

of

their

reading,

we

have

this

year placed

n the hands of

our

Freshmen

Mackail's

little

book,

The

Hundred Best Latin

Poems,

with

not

an

English

word to

mar the fair

Latin,

save

on

the

title-page

and in

the

Preface.

Each

instructor

gives

such comments

on

the

daily

assignments

as

he sees

fit. The

result

is

a

sense

of

real

teaching

and learningmatched on common ground, and of a certain fine

excitement

among

the

students,

as of

the first-hand

discovery

of

poets.

The

great

gift

of classical

training

s the

development

n

the

student

of

the

power

of

reasoning,

of

interpretative

analysis,

and

of

critical

judgment.

It is

better that for the time

he

should

form

erroneous

judgments

and reach false

conclusions

in

matters

of

detail,

provided

he does so

as

a result

of his own

thinking,

than

that

he

should

appropriate

second-hand

truth

like

an

automaton.

Furthermore,

t

is

the

function and

privilege

of

the

teacher,

not

of the editor, to lead him to correctopinionsand to markthe way


6/8

MINERVA

MECHANICA

103

through

difficulties.

Jealously

to conservethis

right

is the teacher's

duty

not

only

to

himself but to those committed

to

his

instruction.

We

may

well

go

fartherand

extend our revolt

against

mechanical

"helps"

that become

mechanical

clogs

to our

personal

acquisition

as

teachers.

As

interpreters

of

the

classics and of

their

spirit

the

great

essential

is that

we

come

ourselves into

priestly

touch with

our source

of

inspiration.

To do this

we must

first

go

in

alone.

Nor

is

it

an

insuperableobjection

to

indulgence

of this

kind,

even

in the case of those who are

handicapped

by

a

New

England

con-

science

in

its

worst

form,

that,

after

all,

it is

what

one

would

most

like to do. What teacher of literaturein some weary and reckless

hour has

not

thrown

to

the

winds

papers

and

marks and

commen-

taries and all

pestiferous

machinery,probably

with the

firm

belief

that he

was

doing

a selfish

thing,

and

permitted

himself a

debauch

of

reading

n

some

author,

only

to

find

that

next

day

and for

many

days

he has made

ample

atonementfor his

neglect

of

business

by

his

increased

enthusiasm

?

Among

the

most valuable

words

spoken

at

the

meetings

of

this

association were those

of

Professor

Seymour

at

our first

gathering

in

Springfield,

when,

he

urged

us

to

steep

our-

selves, all paraphernaliaaside, in our Greek and Latin. It is well

to

refresh our

minds, too,

with

Macaulay's

definition

of a

scholar:

"A

scholar

s one who reads Plato with his feet on

the

fender."

But the

presence

of

superfluous

mpedimenta

s

only

one

phase

of a

tendency

that

reveals

itself still more

widely

in

what we

are

pleased

to

call

method

and

system.

Method

is

not

unessential.

But

by

its

very

nature it

postulates

an

end

to be

reached,

and

the

voluntary

strain toward an end

never

passes

into

involuntary

power,

especially

if,

as is

likely

to

happen,

method

comes

to be

emphasized as the summum bonum of the process. Here again

classical

instruction

in

this

country

has been

drawn

within

the

sweep

of

the

general

error.

This

is

the

sixth

annual

meeting

of

this association.

An

examination of the

programs

of the first

five

meetings

lends

corroboration o

my

point.

Of

a total

of

6i

papers

read

only 13,

or

21

per

cent,

were on

distinctly

literary

topics;

15

are best listed under

the head of

miscellaneous,

while

33,

or

54 per

cent

of the

whole,

were

on

subjects

connected

with

technique

and

methods.

Unhappily

for

my statistics,

but

happily

for my peace of mind, the present programdoes not aid my argu-


7/8

I04

THE

CLASSICAL

JOURNAL

ment.

Important

as

are the

mechanical details of

teaching,

they

can

and do

settle themselves before a

rush of enthusiasm

for the

thing

that

is

taught.

It is on the

motionless

og-jam

that the river-

men

are

always

busiest

with

their

cant-hooks.

On

the

principle

that

our

gatherings

by

their

tone must

indicate our

state of

mind,

it

may

not

be

wide

of the

mark

to

say

that

it

would

be a

perfectly

natu-

ral

thing,

rather the

expected thing,

for a

group

of

people

engaged

in

the

teaching

of literature o

put

their annual

opportunity

or

nter-

course

to a

literary

use,

with a view

to

gaining

mutual

help

through

an

exchange

of

new

knowledge

from all

portions

of their

field

and

from the commonstudy of authors. Perhaps,on our returnfrom

such

an

event

we

should not

deplore

overmuchthat for once we

had

discussed

our

authors to

a

greater

extent

than

how to

teach

them.

They

would

be more

likely

thereafter to teach themselves.

The evils

arising

from a

large

elaboration of methods are

sub-

jective

and

objective.

Subjectively,

or as

regards

the

teacher,

technique

is a

personal,

in

some

respects

an

incommunicable,

thing

wrought

out

of individual

experience

and

adapted

to

local

conditions.

The

methods

that work

perfectly

with one

may

fatally

hamper another. Objectively also, or as concerns the pupil,

technique

is

necessarily

localized

and

individualized,

and

in

any

case

it

should

be

submerged.

Otherwise

we have

the

precious

product

deliciously

portrayed

by

Arbuthnot

in

his

Martin

Scrib-

lerus.

The

pedantic

father

taught

his son

geography

by giving

him a

geographical

uit

of

clothes,

and

geometry

by drawingparallel

lines

on

his

bread

and

butter.

"But,"

the

record

states,

"what

most

conduced

to Cornelius'

attainment

of Greek

was his love of

ginger-

bread,

which

his

father

caused

to be

stamped

with

the letters of

the

Greekalphabet; and the veryfirst day the child ate as far as Iota."

On

the other

hand,

and still

with

referenceto the

student,

are

we

fully

alive to

the

dynamics

of

the classics when allowed to

play

directly

on

the

mind

of

youth

?

As I see

it,

our main task is not to

manipulate

this

power,

but rather to

march

the student

straight

up

to

the

circle

of

it.

Every

one

of

us

must

have received

his

surprise

at

some

time

or

other,

when,

afterall

the

batteries

of method

had been

exhausted

n vain

on some

pachydermatous

upil,

the latter

had

been

awakened

gradually

o

life

by

the

light

working

ts own

way

with

him

without aid or interference. It may be charged that this too is


8/8

MINERVA MECHANICA

105

method,

but if it

is then it is method

of the direct

and

primal

kind

that

in

reality

s a

process

of

Nature,

and

against

such

there

is no

law.

Whatever

its

phases,

the disease

is a

fundamental

restlessness.

We

seem

incapable

of

following

a

consistent

line

of action

for

any

length

of time.

Something

is

wrong,

nobody

knows

what-well

then,

find out

by

tinkering:

put

a new

bolt

here,

another

shaft

there;

remove this

screw;

try

a new

lubricator. But

the

fatal

fact is

that

every change

involves

ten

other

changes,

each

experi-

mental

like

the last. It

is far from

my

thought

to

decry

progress;

my

whole

plea

is for the

higherprogress

hat comes with calm think-

ing and the fitting of forcesto new conditions. New methods are

good,

provided

they

are

the natural

outgrowth

of

the

central

energy

instead

of

excrescences

on

the

periphery.

To take an

example,

the new

Latin entrance

requirements

are most

welcome

for this

very

reason.

Those who

have been

mainly responsible

for this

reform

have

performed

a

great

service

to

the

cause of the

study

of

Latin,

and all the more

so

because

of

their firm

opposition

to

capri-

cious

and

individual

attempts

to

better an

average

good.

Just

as I

would

prefer

to

have a

boy

of mine

receive

four

years

of

consistent

instruction under one second-rate master than the same amount

under

a

succession of four

first-rate

masters

changing

annually,

so

I

prefer

an

imperfect

system

perfectly

tried

to incessant

agitation

to attain

the

so-called

"perfect."

Somewhereand

somehow there

must

be a sense of

confidence

and

repose.

There

is

such a

thing

as

endowment

through permanence.

The

feeling

of

security

in

our

classical

heritage

is half

the battle.

Its

dignity

and its

strength

are

as

great

as ever. It

is now

what it

has

always

been-calm

and

deep

and

rich,

the

embodied

antithesis

to the noisy, the superficial,and the mechanical. The classics,

even

Greek,

have

not

yet

"gone

to the

tomb

of

all

the

Capulets."

But

we

have been so

busy

striving

to

adjust

them

to the

times

that

we

have

forgotten

that

they

are

self-adjusted

to all

times.

There

is a

reasonable

hope

for

them,

as for all

pure

learning,

when her

votaries

shall have

enthroned

the

Minerva of

old-

From his

awful head

Whom

Jove

brought

forth

in

warlike

armor

drest,

Golden,

all

radiant

....

in place of a puppet-goddessworkedby strings.

minerva mechanica 1911

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